Wind Power News: September 2007
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
PUC agrees to consider appeal on allowing participation of Coastal Habitat Alliance
Coastal Habitat Alliance Statement (Austin, Texas) —– The Coastal Habitat Alliance – a coalition of eleven Texas-based and national organizations working to preserve the Texas Gulf Coast – today expressed satisfaction that the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas has agreed to hear their appeal regarding the group’s intervenor status in the AEP 345 kV transmission line case to be held on October 17 in Austin. The transmission line would extend for 21 miles in an east/west direction across Kenedy County. The . . . Complete story »
Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County update
PSC denies permit at Jack’s Mountain On June 22, 2007, when the WV Public Service Commission denied Liverty Gap Wind Force’s application to construct a wind turbine project on Jack Mountain in Pendleton County, all the citizens, property owners and friends of the county who treasure its unindustrialized scenic beauty exhaled a collective sigh of relief. When public notice of Liberty Gap’s intentions first appeared in the Pendleton Times on Nov. 19, 2004, the response was dismay. That quickly changed . . . Complete story »
Who owns the mountain?
Studying the topography of the Allegheny Front and Fore Knobs on a map, I see all the familiar landmarks condensed on one page: Stack Rocks, Red Creek, Helmick Run, Stoney River Dam, Snowy Point, and Saltblock; Little Star and Big Star Runs. Tracing the lines, I locate the Baker Sods and the Beech Woods and the Weimer Place. My topo map, like the silent, strong outline of the crest of the Allegheny, looks perfectly real and natural. Looking south toward . . . Complete story »
Homesteaders to weight wind farm benefits
Anyone who has been to Hoolehua knows how windy it can get up there; how bearable the breeze can make a summer evening. But one company wants to examine another use for the cool gusts that stream through the high area, most of which is Hawaiian homestead land. Representatives from UPC Wind Partners Hawaii met with a few dozen of the area’s homesteaders last Wednesday to discuss its plan to put up nineteen 180-foot tall wind towers in the area. . . . Complete story »
Windfarms will have no effect on foreign oil
Gamesa’s Director of Media Relations Michael Peck, in a reference to oil, recently wrote “Nobody’s child has to fight overseas to protect access to wind power.” Mr. Peck thereby implies that industrial windfarms will lessen our dependence on foreign oil. In reality, less than 2 percent of the oil consumed in the U.S. is used to produce electricity. The U.S. actually exports more oil than it uses to produce electricity. Industrial windfarms will have no effect on our consumption of . . . Complete story »
Developer quick to appeal decision to throw out wind mast proposal
Bosses at Banks Developments have pledged to launch an appeal after stage one of their Leeds wind farm scheme was thrown out by planners. The Durham-based firm has been seeking permission to put up a temporary 60-metre ‘monitoring mast’ on green belt land at Hook Moor, near Micklefield and Garforth. But on Thursday councillors unanimously rejected the company’s application – despite a report from Leeds’s chief planning officer recommending it should, in principle, be accepted. Today Rob Williams, divisional projects . . . Complete story »
Illinois still working on how to tax turbines, economic development issues
Financial compensation for property owners isn’t the only monetary aspect of the debate over wind turbines. Economic development and tax abatement issues are also a huge factor, said members of a panel that spoke Wednesday at the McLean County Farm Bureau to bus tour participants from Champaign County. Marty Vanags, director of the McLean County Economic Development Council, said an enterprise zone around the twin cities of Bloomington and Normal was extended to allow the Twin Groves Wind Farm an . . . Complete story »
Mayor has new spin for City Hall Plaza; Menino wants to explore wind turbine installation
Over the years Mayor Thomas M. Menino has proposed everything from a hotel to “vapor fountains” to liven up the empty expanse of City Hall Plaza. Now the mayor has hit on another idea for the chronically windswept red brick plain: a wind turbine, potentially a 150-foot tall model that could generate up to one-quarter of the electricity used at City Hall. Menino, who has been vowing to “turn Beantown into Green Town” through campaigns to plant 100,000 trees and . . . Complete story »
Lawmakers take away school money generated by wind farms
School districts stand to lose thousands of dollars a year under a new law that takes away taxes generated by wind farms. A measure passed the Legislature last session means school districts will no longer benefit from taxes generated by local windmills after June 30, 2009. It’s a change that has some southeastern Minnesota school officials angry. “We thought, well that’s going to be great. We’ll get this new form of revenue and get to keep it here, and they . . . Complete story »
Superintendent vows to fight loss of wind-energy production taxes
Sitting on Grand Meadow Superintendent Joe Brown’s desk is a miniature replica of a wind turbine. It’s modeled after the towering wind turbines that spin within view of the school’s athletic field. For the district, each of those wind turbines represented a new funding source – thanks to the wind energy production tax. Brown even went so far as to testify at a public hearing in favor of a new wind farm to support new dollars for his school district. But . . . Complete story »
